When you present with a slide deck, you are engaged in a dance of sorts. You and your slides have to be in step with each other, complementing each other’s movements and timing. But we’ve all seen presentations where the dance is off. It’s unclear who is leading, toes are being stepped on, and the whole thing is painfully awkward to watch.
Today we want to give you some tips for navigating your presentation with ease, so that you don’t ever find yourself tripping through your slide deck. We’ll talk about using a wireless slide remote and will offer some keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint that can help in a pinch.
Navigating with a Wireless Slide Remote
If you present regularly, you need to invest in a good slide remote. You might be thinking, why do I need one when I can just use the mouse to advance my slides? Good question. Here’s the answer. Using the mouse to advance your slides will always restrict your movement. For some speakers, it works to tether them to the computer. This causes them to deliver their presentation behind a workstation or desk because they are afraid to step too far away from the mouse. For other speakers, it may not restrict their movement, but it still makes it awkward. For example, they have moved to the far side of the room as they make an important point, but now realize they have to walk all the way back to the computer to advance to the next slide. This feels clunky and disrupts the flow of the presentation.
The way to solve this problem is to purchase and use a slide remote. When choosing a remote think about the following things: the shape that you’ll prefer to hold in your hand, the range you’ll need, the functions you’ll want in a remote, and the price you want to spend. I’m partial to the Logitech R400 remote. I have used it for nearly 10 years now without any issues. But the Norwii N27 clicker is another great option if you prefer more a pen-shaped remote. It has the added benefit of allowing you to adjust the volume and open hyperlinks with buttons on your remote. You’ll find it’s much easier to navigate your presentation smoothly when you have a reliable remote in hand.
Navigating with Keyboard Shortcuts for PowerPoint
But what if you forget your remote, or it stops working? Sure, you can go back to using the mouse, but there is another way to navigate your presentation: the keyboard. If you are presenting in a room with a wireless keyboard, you can move that to wherever you’ll need it and command your presentation from there. Here are some shortcuts that will help:
- Shift + F5: Plays the slide show from the slide you are on (no more searching for the presenter view button or slide show from beginning commands)
- Home: Takes you to the first slide in the deck
- End: Takes you to the last slide in the deck
- Spacebar: Advances to the next item/slide
- Right/Left Arrow: Moves you forward or backward the same way a mouse click or remote button would
- B: Takes you to a blank, black slide, and then takes you back to the slide you were on. This is one of my favorite shortcuts. You might use it if something unexpected happens, like the need for a quick break or the need to focus on a audience question without the distraction of anything on the screen. Most remotes will have a black-out button, but this gives you that same capability with one quick keyboard stroke.
- Control + P: Gives you an on-screen pen if you need ink annotations on a slide
- Control + E: Allows you to erase any pen marks you’ve made
- Control + L: Gives you an on-screen laser pointer
- Control + A: Allows you to go back to using an arrow after using the pen or laser function
- Control + H: Allows you to hide the arrow if you won’t need it to navigate your slide deck
- Escape: Takes you out of the slide show
Once you learn to use a slide remote or these keyboard shortcuts, your presentation will come off without a hitch. Jump online and purchase a slide remote now. Or pull up your most recent PowerPoint presentation and practice with these shortcuts. That way you won’t ever be that presenter awkwardly searching for slide show button while the audience looks on. Instead, you’ll be the pro who has learned and mastered the dance of slide deck navigation.
Want more tips and tricks to take your presentation to the next level?
The post How to Navigate Your Presentation Slide Deck Like a Pro appeared first on Ethos3 – A Presentation Training and Design Agency.
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